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A few questions about mixing

I've just done my first 'proper' mix after a few months of practicing and what-not.
I've had some criticism saying some parts are bad, and I agree with them, but then some people say that it's not a 'mix' because I'm just changing from song to song...
Now here's the problem, do people want an hour long mix which is basically a mash-up with two decks playing the whole time?! I thought the art of djing was to keep it simple and let it flow, with some mash-ups and effects thrown in here and there?

I'm just a bit upset that I've tried so hard but seemingly failed... I obviously aim to have a mix that's full of 'mash-ups' but it would have to be so scripted that it wouldn't really feel right?

When you play gigs at clubs etc do you prepare your mix beforehand, sort out your cue points, what you're going to press where and when? Or do you prepare a playlist of around 100 songs or something and just mix in what feels right? This is what I don't understand, if you're 'freestyling' how the hell can you do a good enough mix? You won't know what songs go together, how long their breakdowns are etc will you?

Thanks...

I wasn't going to post the mix for fear of being slaughtered but here it is;

I guess I should write my own kinda 'review' on it...
The intro is good, I like it, the problem was transitioning OUT of 'The Tempest', it was basically impossible, so I just waited until it ended and played 'I'm not Alone'. It sounds awful, I know, but for some reason I wanted to keep The Tempest as the intro song...

The next two transitions are equally awful and too abrupt.
When 'Follow The Light' transitions into 'Remember' I think it works very well, then I had another problem as 'Remember' is at a weird bpm, something like 177.69 so it was hard to mix anything into it, 'Come Back' works okay, I don't think it's amazing but it's not bad.
'Come Back' > 'Hurt Less' I really really like, they drop at the same time and go together well.
I'm not going to talk about every transition, but basically my problem throughout was choosing songs that don't mix together very well and kinda 'forcing' them on eachother.
I like the part at the end (Just Be> Beautiful Lies> Need to feel loved).

I guess I should also ask, am I good enough to play in a small club? I think I am, but I'd have to prepare the mix beforehand...

Not very long... I got a Numark Mixtrack and Traktor X1 in September, and didn't 'get serious' until around November/December. I haven't played in front of anyone yet...

you still have ways to go. I been mixing songs for like 3-4 years and I finally have a gig in july. Practice, mix in key, take it in slow strides and over time you will learn some new cool techniques. It's like anything to where you start slow but get better in time.

you still have ways to go. I been mixing songs for like 3-4 years and I finally have a gig in july. Practice, mix in key, take it in slow strides and over time you will learn some new cool techniques. It's like anything to where you start slow but get better in time.

Well you could always go in guns blazing buuuuuut dont come crying when you get burned. Main reason It took me a while was that I was studying on it and then learning different techniques and getting feedback from everyone I could and also building music collection which sadly I lost alot due to PC crash couple years ago =.=

Well you could always go in guns blazing buuuuuut dont come crying when you get burned. Main reason It took me a while was that I was studying on it and then learning different techniques and getting feedback from everyone I could and also building music collection which sadly I lost alot due to PC crash couple years ago =.=

Yeah, I feel like I'm nearly ready to play out, I just need to freestyle a little bit more instead of planning everything so much beforehand.

When you play gigs at clubs etc do you prepare your mix beforehand, sort out your cue points, what you're going to press where and when? Or do you prepare a playlist of around 100 songs or something and just mix in what feels right? This is what I don't understand, if you're 'freestyling' how the hell can you do a good enough mix? You won't know what songs go together, how long their breakdowns are etc will you?

Theres currently 130 songs in my "tracklist" if you like, ive went through every single one of these and made sure the gridding is perfect, Every song has been put through MIK so i know the key, so i know itll "go", also i know every single one of those tracks like the back of my hand, theres always music playing in my room coming from my laptop, so subconciously i remember every little detail.

When i play out nothing is prepared, if youve prepared a tracklist and a hot girl comes up to you and asks ou to play their song, (bearing in mind, you have this song, and you also like it) how are you going to fit it in? Ive around 1500 songs on my computer so chances are, i have her song. it takes less than 5 minutes to run a song through MIK then beatgrid it and then you can just throw it in at your leasure

I only listened to the first 10 mins of your mix, because i simply dont have time just now, but your trying to mix DNB with EDM. Thats hard shit even for pro's. Im also guessing youve never manually beatmatched before, and didnt grid any of your your tracks yourself, Traktor is notoriously bad at gridding DNB so chances are it was miles out to start with, DNB is around 160/170 and EDM is generally 130, youve got to build up/down into each other,

EDIT: also, about you mentioning breakdowns, if you know your music then its all a case of numbers, EDM is written in 4/4. I worked all this out myself, so im going to put you in the right direction and you can work it out for yourself.

EDM - 4/4
Make SMALL tempo changes for tempo buildups DURING the song, not jumping from a track thaats 160 to one thats 130
Also, Keylock is your best friend if your making mass tempo changes.